John Ronson
Appearances
Debt Heads
S1.E3 - The House Always Wins (Part Two)
You know, this guy had created this computer program, Mosaic, and this is years before anyone was thinking about Cambridge Analytica.
Debt Heads
S1.E3 - The House Always Wins (Part Two)
He figured out that people at this postcode drink this type of wine. You know, people at this postcard drink this type of cheap booze. And so he could figure out... who to bombard with pre-approved credit card junk mail based on a combination of their postcode and, you know, what sort of stuff is consumed in that area. And the people who commissioned this software program?
Debt Heads
S1.E3 - The House Always Wins (Part Two)
Getting that guy who, like, invented Mosaic was felt like a real coup. How he agreed to talk to me, I have no idea.
Debt Heads
S1.E3 - The House Always Wins (Part Two)
And what we figured out effectively was that the perfect people to blast with pre-approved credit card junk mail are people who aren't well educated but are homeowners. So they're not smart enough to read the small print and there's something to seize when they default on their loans. It's so evil.
Debt Heads
S1.E3 - The House Always Wins (Part Two)
This is such an important story. And I really felt like I'd, you know, exposed some dirty dealings. And nobody cared. Like, nobody. Like, it rarely has a piece I've done had less impact. Like, it got nothing.
Debt Heads
S1.E3 - The House Always Wins (Part Two)
To this day, yeah. And we asked him. Why don't people care? So after Who Killed Richard Cullen was published, my American publisher said, like, this is your next book, write this book, all about the secret tricks and so on. So I spent six months trying, and I couldn't do it, like, because it was so boring. And everybody I met was so boring.
Debt Heads
S1.E3 - The House Always Wins (Part Two)
And I realized, if you want to get away with wielding true malevolent power, be boring. LAUGHTER